EO Challenge: Love Is Never Late
by LaedieDuske
Summary: E/O Challenge: WoW: Listed inside. The boys think they're on an open-and-shut case, but things aren't always what they look like on the surface. When Sam gets trapped, Dean has to save him.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: E/O Challenge - Love Is Never Late (Chapter 1)**

**Author: Laedie Duske**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but if Dean were to offer me a place to curl up and nap I wouldn't pass it up.**

**Word Count: 300**

**Warnings: None**

**Spoilers: None**

**Featured Words: Urgent, normal, follow, flap, right, play, corner, pillow and a day of the week**

**v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v**

Dean shifted on the bed. The jagged edges of his broken ribs ground together, taking his breath away. He laid his head back on the pillow, breathing shallowly and waiting for the pain to subside. The last hunt had been a real nightmare.

Literally.

Seemed like Dean couldn't close his eyes without the images of Sam writhing on the motel bed playing inside his head. Trapped inside his deadly dreams, Sam had gone where Dean couldn't follow.

They thought they had come on a normal witch hunt, what they found was a much more urgent danger.

Dean had left Sam in the shower the second morning. He'd be back from the coffee shop right around the corner by the time Sam was finished so they could get to the research more quickly. He hadn't taken into account it was Monday morning in a small town with one coffee shop. By the time he got his coffee and Sam's froufrou tea, he was wondering if he should just invest in a single-cup coffee pot to carry with them.

When Dean returned, he found a chicken wing tacked to their door, the feathers flapping in the breeze. He set the coffee tray carefully on Baby's roof and drew his gun before slipping into the room. The only one in the room had been Sam, lying unconscious on the floor, his towel still around his waist. Dean knew the wing was supposed to make him think "voodoo", but he'd had experience with real voodoo and knew that wasn't it.

Dean maneuvered Sam's huge frame up onto the bed, bundling him under the blankets. He stepped out to grab the drinks, dumping them in the trash on the way in. Dean wasn't taking any chances. He dug out Sam's laptop and got to work.

**v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v**

**A/N: I have been unfriended on LJ and probably unfollowed on here. I get it, and I'm sorry to see some people go. I know I've been MIA for awhile - some of you know why, some of you don't. We've had a couple losses in the family last month, and one of my best friends has been in the hospital. I've been doing what I can for my family and I can't be sorry for that. I'm way behind on my drabbles, and I missed Dean's birthday. (I don't think he'd mind, I nearly missed my own too. Since mine is about a week before his, I think he'd understand.) So here's a drabble with a bunch of words, with another chapter to come as soon as I can get it finished.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Word Count: 200**

**Warnings: None**

**Spoilers: None**

**Featured Words: Use an animal, goo, dip, click, explain your screen name (see A/N below), fool, use a word with two pronunciations/one spelling, charm, growl**

**A/N: I thought I'd read we were no longer doing birthday drabbles, a thought that seemed to be reinforced when my own birthday drabble request was completely ignored. Either way, I do not write Castiel. Nearly all of my stories are set in the earlier seasons. So I figured this was a good time to add to this one and do a little more clean-up on the words I'm behind on.**

**Also, one of the requests I have stashed was to explain our pen-names. My writer friend who died in March wrote a poem for me about a lifetime ago. He titled it with one of his nicknames for me: Lady Dusk. I hated having to alter it to what you see on my public profiles. Sadly, Lady Dusk was taken nearly everywhere, with the exception of AO3. What you see is the best compromise I could come up with and still use it, and he harassed me endlessly for it.**

**v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v- v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v**

Dean had given Sam a thorough once-over to check for wounds while the laptop booted, anything that might give some explanation for his unresponsiveness. Sam didn't have a scratch on him. Other than the feathered carnage nailed on the door, Dean could find no charms stashed anywhere around the room either.

Looking through the newspaper reports and internet-accessible information more closely read like a bad B movie. More bird wings, chicken feet, bloody animal goo and symbols any dippy half-wit who could click on a link in a search engine could find. Someone with less experience with true practitioners might have fallen for it. Local authorities might be fooled but any Hunter worth their salt shouldn't have been. Dean made a mental note to track down the one who'd passed the job over to them and punch him in the face. He was clearly too stupid for the job.

Getting wound up was getting him nowhere – Dean stood, stretched and paced the room, trying to work off some of the nervous energy. He dropped down onto the edge of his bed, dragging his knuckles across his burning eyes. Looking across at Sam's motionless form he growled, "I'm comin' Sammy."


End file.
